Roku HD Player
by Roku, Inc.
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Our Price: $75.50 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Roku HD Player
Customer Review: ROKU HD PLAYER
Summary: 5 Stars
I dropped cable when I discovered that Netflix not only had tons of movies available, but also my beloved series from the premium channels. I could wait for the dvds in the mail, or watch the streaming versions on my computer. I did miss plopping down on the sofa and watching on the bigger screen (tv) . . . until I found out about this Roku player.
All the reviews were right on. I have an HDTV w/a wireless internet network, not an older tv with a digital converter, and not a wired network, so I can't speak to the latter set ups, but the Roku works SEAMLESSLY with my HDTV and wireless network.
Set up was a breeze:I knew to have my wireless intenet network's WEP key (passcode)available ahead of time, so as not to waste time looking for it, and it took less than 5 minutes from opening the box to watching shows. Simply follow on-screen prompts; there is very little for you to do, most is automatic, a no-brainer for even the most non-techie folks. Kudos to Roku. I did buy an inexpensive hdmii cable from Amazon (AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters)but other cables are inlcuded, so an additional purcase is NOT necessary. The Roku receiver itself is small, about hand-size. There is a power supply to plug in, about 1"x3", so have an outlet available for that.
To use the Roku (or "You Rock!" as I nicknamed it, lol), all I do is choose on my tv remote Hdmii#2 for my particular input, and the Roku screen appears on the tv screen. Use the included little Roku remote control (which is very simple, easy to use, well-designed, ergonomic - kudos again to Roku)to choose the Netflix channel, or one of the other channels available. There are MANY channels available,including movie channels, music, sports, photo accounts like Flickr/Photobucket,Facebook, etc. Many free, some free with subscription, some need paid subscription (this info given as you browse thru the channel selection). For Netflix account subscribers, your Instant Queue items are displayed for you to choose, pop-up descriptions available, etc., or you can browse/search for any title. Easy-peasy. Ditto for Amazon-on-Demand. The remote allows you to pause, fast-forward,or reverse, although those processes are a bit slow (but worth the ability to do so). If on "pause" too long, a screensaver comes on, but touch the Select button twice to resume. If you are watching a series, it "remembers" what episode you are on, and where you stopped mid-episode if you had to turn it off then! You can choose to watch another episode. These latter features may be Netflix-enabled rather than Roku-enabled, but they work so seamlessly together I can't tell, and don't really care <grin>.
For a one-month's-worth-of-cable investment, I get Better for one-tenth of the cost monthly. For my local channels, I got a ten-dollar RCA indoor antenna (ANT111)Basic Indoor Antenna that gives me local HD channels, as clear as satellite did! Just plugged that into the HDTV (it does not plug into an outlet - yay),scanned for channels (used the tv remote's menu), then was watching them using my tv remote two minutes later. Which antenna works for you depends on your particular environment, so I stared with the lowest priced one (that had enough good reviews) to try, since I could return what didn't work.
Switching between TV input (local ch) and HDMII (Roku ch), I'm all set, and saved myself a beaucoup d'moola in the process.
Customer Review: Up Yours Time Warner!
Summary: 5 Stars
For years cable customers have been complaining about ever increasing rates for the television service that the cable companies provide. These increasing rates have been justified by the cable companies as increased expenses to widen the selection of channels that they offer. But upon further inspection by the consumer, these additional channels ended up being gems such as "The Bass Fishing Channel" and "Gay People TV" and other crap-tastic programing that nobody watches.
The answer to the customers' problem was a simple one; a la carte programing where you would only pay for the channels that you actually watched. And the cable companies immediately told us "no way", claiming that it was an impossible business model and that many popular stations would go out of business from the revenue loss. Theirs was a policy of using quantity, not quality, to justify their ever increasing rates and many of us, myself included, had to pony up the money every month because there simply wasn't a viable alternative.
UNTIL NOW!!!!!
Enter a tiny black box called Roku. If you haven't figured it out yet, Roku plays movies from your Netflix Instant queue and plays rented and/or purchased movies and television shows from Amazon Videos On Demand. Yes, you have to pay for a monthly Netflix membership. And yes, you have to pay for the movies and television shows that you rent/buy from Amazon Videos On Demand. But chances are, most if not all of the shows that you watch regularly on television are available on one of those two services. I sat down with a calculator and figured out that by canceling my cable service and buying all of the shows that I watch through Amazon VOD, I'd be saving somewhere around $600-700 a year. That's not even counting the shows that I can watch over Netflix, such as Heroes, for the cost of my Netflix membership (the cost of the Netflix membership being a non-issue since I would have that regardless of owning the Roku). It was a no brainer. I called my cable company and told them to take a hike. For years I've dreamed of doing that, and it finally came true.
A few things to take note of before you buy this little marvel of a box:
1-Your picture quality depends on your connection speed to the internet. Broadband is a must! And I'm not talking about a 750Kb or 1.5Mb DSL line. Based on my experience, you're going to need at least a 3Mb/sec line if you want to watch anything in HD. The faster, the better. I'm running a 15Mb/sec line so everything available in HD is displayed in HD and my load times are pretty short. Your experience probably will vary.
2-The Roku does not have an external antenna for wireless connection. I have found that despite many claims to the contrary, internal antennas don't receive a wireless signal as well as external ones do. Therefore, you'll need to have your wireless router positioned to give the Roku the highest possible signal strength to maintain a good connection speed.
3-The sound output options are limited. Roku can deliver digital sound via HDMI or optical toslink. If neither of those work for you, you're limited to stereo analog RCA plugs.
In conclusion, this thing is a cheap alternative to the high prices and lack-luster service of cable tv. Not only that, but it makes the Netflix membership that I've been paying for even more valuable since I'm now taking more advantage of the instant queue. So buy this thing and give your cable company the finger.
Customer Review: A truly awesome product at a stellar price
Summary: 5 Stars
I think Amazon's description sells this device short. Sure, you can purchase/rent from Amazon's VOD service through Roku. And yeah, you can also steam any of Netflix's "Watch Now" movies, some of them in high definition (720p). But there's so much more you can do with this service that it's just amazing. But let me back up a bit. There's a lot of devices in the market now that are trying to take over your TV watching. Game devices like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 offer a myriad of choices in streaming media from your PC or from Netflix or, via software, allowing a bunch of internet channels to be streamed. With services like PlayOn, Netflix, Hulu+ and others being introduced constantly, the need for having a cable bill is drastically going down. With so many devices out there that allow you to access the multitude of content on the web, it's difficult to decide which is the best for you. Before Apple unveiled their newly refreshed Apple TV, Roku did the smart thing and slashed their prices. Honestly, this move benefits consumers so much because this device is the one I'd choose, hands-down, right now.
Lets start with the hardware. The Roku is made so that virtually all TVs can use it. It has the new plugins like HDMI, but it also supports component and composite cables, so everything from your latest LED TV to an old, 10-20 year old CRT with mono sound will work with this device. It even includes the "S-Video" for TVs that supported it, prior to HD. For those with a receiver that doesn't support HDMI, it also comes with an optical port for sound. Basically anything you probably could want for your TV, the Roku has, from standard to high definition. To connect to the internet, it offers both a wired option and wireless b/g; no n, unfortunately, in this model. If you want Wireless-N, check out the upgraded model XD. The other thing to note about the HD is that this device will only output up to 720p. The XD one includes up to 1080p, but most content right now is maxed at 720p anyway so the upgrade isn't that huge of a deal right now.
So the Roku has a lot of connection options, but that would mean nothing if the content wasn't there. Luckily, the Roku has so much to offer you. Much more than just Netflix or Amazon VOD (not to slight either service because that, in itself, is huge). A recent addition to the Roku is Hulu+, an upgraded monthly-paid content service that provides HD and surround sound TV shows from NBC, ABC and Fox (no CBS). I've been a member of the preview program right now and it's nice even though it's not as full-featured as hulu is (some shows, like Fringe, are missing). Other channels include both free and premium (i.e. paid) content that ranges from UFC to sports and news channels to pandora to independent films to picture sharing sites like flickr. There's just a ton of content; I'd recommend checking out the Roku website for a full list of supportable content. And as the recent addition of Hulu+ shows, the developers will presumably add additional channels as they are available.
The point of these devices is to offer you choice. And as a standalone device, the Roku player seems to offer the most bang for your buck. It's incredibly easy to set up and use and it just includes so much content. If you're looking for ways to complement or possibly eliminate your cable, I'd really recommend checking Roku out. It's the least expensive device out there and offers content that some devices do not.
Customer Review: Amazing device! Cancel HBO & Showtime!
Summary: 5 Stars
I setup one of these up for my mom after she inquired about it. I heard that you could stream movies from a Xbox 360 and other devices using your Netflix. Knowing that Netflix had thousands of movies in their instant view catalog. This seemed like an amazing concept but would the Roku be able to hold its own? My mom told me to do some research to see if there was an exclusive Netflix player. I found this and my mom was sold when she found it was just $100. I was a little skeptical at first about Quality, buffering and streaming. My mom's TV has component and not HDMI, its a slightly older LCD TV. Thankfully, the Roku seems to support all major outputs (HDMI, component and regular video with both Analog and Digital audio outputs). When the Roku arrived, I was blown away by its size. Its about the size of a cable modem and this little monster packs a mean punch. I hooked up the component video (bought cables separate--Roku comes with regular Video & Audio -yellow,red & white) to the tv and the audio to the Surround sound stereo and directly plugged it in from the wireless router (has jacks) using an ethernet cable. When the Roku came on the TV, it instantly connected to the Roku and automated an update. Once the update was complete, went through the setup process which just involved typing the code that the device gave us into netflix.com/activate. After activation, the Roku instantaneously refreshed itself and was to ready to be used.
The Roku has 3 main items in its menu: Settings (I set my display to 16:9 wide but it also has Hi-def (HDMI) and regular TV formatting), NETFLIX (set your instant queue and watch them here) and AMAZON Video (not sure what this feature is, I think you can order HD Videos from Amazon and stream them directly to your ROKU). I clicked on NEtflix and all the movies I added to my Instant Queue came up. You have to first go to your NEtflix account, add movies to your instant Queue (not DVD) before viewing them on ROKU (otherwise the list will be empty). You are allowed 40 in you queue at a time.
My first movie was Seven Years in Tibet, a movie I had wanted to watch for awhile. I was blown away by the quality (DVD-esque maybe better) and sound (Crisp and sounded amazing on the surround sound). It was like watching a DVD instantly without having to drive to BlockBuster and stick it in the player and worry about late fees or my dog chewing on a DVD. Just use the Roku remote (up, down, right, left, select, play, pause, fast forward and rewind and home button) to select your movie from your list, it took maybe 5 seconds to load and the streaming was seamless, no hiccups or delay, no quality deterioration or things you come to expect from a streaming video! Brilliant, crisp, clear, super frame-rate, DVD quality video and sound right at your disposal and finger tips. And not only that but NETFLIX has thousands and thousands of movies, shows & videos in their arsenal for you to choose from. This is so much better than HBO or Showtime because everything is on DEMAND plus you can pause, play, rewind or fast-forward with the touch button. Roku even resumes where you left in the movie if you have to come back to it. The Roku interface is pretty, intuitive and easy to use and Roku player takes up less space than your modem and packs more of a punch than a bulky DVD player or cable box.
Customer Review: Great Value in Home Entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
The Roku HD Netflix player, is, as many others have already pointed out, probably the best value in home video entertainment today. For a one-time $99 investment and the price of a $16.99 monthly Netflix rental plan (or even cheaper $8.99 or $13.99 plans), one has access to the constantly growing library of Netflix streaming content, as well as video rentals from Amazon.com. The Netflix streaming content complements the DVD rental service in two ways. First, because newer releases are not available as streaming content until some time has passed after their DVD release date, one can use DVD rental slots to obtain new releases, while using the Roku to watch older content. Also, the streaming content ensures that you'll have something to watch while waiting for your DVD's to arrive in the mail.
As someone who doesn't have cable TV, I find the amount of content on Netflix streaming to be more than generous. I currently have over 320 titles in my streaming queue, encompassing a nice variety of documentaries, classic films, newer films, foreign films, and great TV shows such as "Prison Break," "Survivorman" and "Dirty Jobs." There is more than enough to keep you watching for a couple of years.
The player itself is easy to set up and connect to one's TV and surround receiver. Although the Roku offers the option of connecting to the internet using 802.11 b/g wi-fi, I HIGHLY recommend using an RJ45 ethernet cable to connect the Roku player to your ISP router, especially if you live in an apartment building, as this ensures the fastest possible connection speed and avoids potential wireless interference and drop-out issues. On my relatively slow 5 Mbs/second cable internet connection, using an ethernet cable, the Roku connection achieves great picture quality and only dropped out once during hundreds of hours of TV watching -- pretty damn good in my book. There is no question that the Roku transmits streaming video much faster and more efficiently, with far better quality, than using Netflix's website streaming and the Silverlight plug-in. Scene searching is pretty fast; it takes about 5 seconds to load a new scene. Picture quality on a 37" 1080p LCD television with an HDMI connection is excellent -- indistinguishable from a DVD, and probably better in most cases, and the surround audio through the optical cable is also excellent.
The remote is very simple and easy to use, with directional arrows for menu navigation, a "select" key, a pause/play key and forward and rewind keys, and a "home" key. Menu navigation through one's Netflix streaming queue is in the process of being improved by Netflix; currently, one can only cycle through one's streaming list left to right, by using the directional arrows, so if you have a lot of movies in your queue, it can take a while to go through them. For this reason, I recommend organizing your queue on the Netflix website before you use your Roku, sending the movies you want to watch to the beginning of your queue. Then, when you use the Roku, the stuff you want to watch will be at the beginning of your queue, and you won't have to cycle through all the titles.
Final verdict - Roku workds as advertised and is a great value for budget-conscious folks looking to stretch their entertainment budgets.